Kim Hildreth and Sarah Schermerhorn are a professional beach volleyball pair who will be competing in the upcoming AVP Champions Cup Series. Below, they spoke to Just Women’s Sports about the Champions Cup and how they feel about competing amidst the ongoing pandemic. 

The AVP tour is hosting a 3-week tournament to replace the 2020 season which had cancellations and postponements due to COVID. What are your expectations heading into the tournament? 

Sarah: First and foremost, we’re really excited that they were able to put something together this season. Typically, the first event is in May and everybody starts with preseason training in January. It was weird to have it keep getting pushed back and pushed back, not knowing when the first start date would be. When they announced the tournament, we didn’t know how small the event was going to be, so that was a surprise. They’ve limited it to 18 teams total in the mini series. Whereas, in a normal tournament, 12 to 16 teams get in, but there are 40 or 50 teams in the qualifiers. Kim and I feel very fortunate that we had a good season last year and that we’ve put ourselves in a position to compete. We’re the fourth seed in the qualifier. So, we are grateful to be included and excited to take advantage of the opportunity that AVP was able to put together for us in 2020.

You two won your first FIVB medal earlier this year. How do you two plan to ride this momentum during the AVP tournament? And do you two feel pressure to perform given the limited opportunities to play this season?

Kim: We had a little bit of a different path than a lot of other teams. In Florida, we were able to train almost the entire time that everything was shut down because there are private courts. And we live here together, and our coaches do too. So we were pretty fortunate. We’re feeling competent in our team. We know we are a much better team than we were last year, and getting that metal under our belt early in the season feels like another confidence boost for us.

The way this series is set up, it’s so different from the regular AVP tournaments because they are paying all of the athletes who are involved. It’s like we have a guaranteed salary. So I actually feel like there’s less pressure in this tournament because we weren’t even sure that there was going to be a tour at all. We’re going into this tournament feeling just thankful to play. Fortunately, we will get to keep our points for next season and we will be in a good position then as well. So this is just a bonus godsend from AVP.

How do you think it will be playing without fans? 

Sarah: We play a lot of tournaments here in Florida where there’s a beach vibe and a lot of people playing, but not necessarily a lot of fans standing around your specific court. Obviously, it’s fun and engaging, and helps pump your adrenaline up when you have fans all around. I think Kim and I have experience playing in both environments. Ideally, it’s awesome to have fans to ramp up the event, but I know a lot of people are going to be watching from home. For me, it’s just as exciting to be able to give fans something to watch and something to be excited about, even if we don’t get to witness it firsthand.

Do you know your schedule and matchups yet? 

Kim: In theory, yes. The seeding has been released, but the AVP is requiring everyone involved with the event to be tested for COVID every single week. We just took our tests, so everyone is waiting to hear their results back. The seeding could change if someone tests positive for COVID and is unable to play in the event. Obviously, we hope for ourselves and for our competitors that that doesn’t happen because that’s not how you want to compete.

What other types of protocols are they putting in place to keep everyone safe during the tournament?

Kim: They are definitely taking it very seriously. I know that the city gave them guidelines to run the event. They are giving us information as we go on how to keep the event safe. There are going to be a lot of specific safety guidelines.

Sarah: One of the biggest issues was keeping the numbers small for this tournament, too. So, I think step one was minimizing the tournament size and then, like Kim said, there are going to be a lot of strict guidelines to keep players and staff safe.

Do you have any concerns about playing during COVID?

Kim: Everything these days is a little bit concerning health wise. But, I’ve been taking it pretty seriously here in Florida, and Florida has had an extremely high case number recently. Our plan is to travel out there as safely as we can, taking all of the precautions. And then, we are going to pick and choose what events we want to play to make sure that we’re able to compete in the AVP tournament. We feel confident that the AVP is taking it seriously and is going to do everything they can to keep us safe. It’s comforting to know that every single person that’s going to be at the event has tested negative.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.